Student engineers win national awards

KALAMAZOO--The student professional chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at Western Michigan University recently won two national awards from the society.

WMU's chapter was named Most Improved Chapter in the Nation and received a Certificate of Commendation.

"As a newly founded organization, this is a great honor to receive," says Britney Richmond, chapter president. "To be recognized for our hard work over the past year in both the ASCE concrete canoe competition and with our very first entry into the steel bridge competition is definitely something that our chapter can be proud of."

The chapter is composed of about 40 undergraduate and graduate civil and construction engineering students and works in close partnership with the student chapters of the Association of General Contractors and Institute of Transportation Engineers. The chapter participates in two big competitions each year--the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition and the ASCE/American Institute of Steel Construction Steel Bridge Competition. In the previous academic year, the chapter's concrete canoe team placed third overall in regional competition, its highest finish in five years of participation.

In addition to competitions, the chapter participates in a number of volunteer activities around WMU's Parkview Campus through the Adopt-A-Highway program and partners with companies to bring in professional engineers to speak to chapter members. The chapter's growth in membership was also cited as a reason for receiving the awards.